Format: Paper presentations with discussion
Convenors:
Madeline Shanahan, Extent Heritage, Australia, mshanahan@extent.com.au
The act of sharing a meal is one that across the globe, and throughout human history, has had meaning which extends far beyond the basic need for sustenance. Food bonds individuals and communities together through shared experience and the strengthening of collective identities and memories. Food can also be used to erect boundaries between groups, by highlighting differences and perceived transgressions of civility and taste, be it through the foodstuffs consumed, or the manner of dining. Food also connects us to place; through the resources of a region and the distinct flavours shaped by soil, climate and topography. While the importance of securing a steady supply of nutrients goes without saying, the complexity of our relationship with food, and the material impact that this has on the world around us cannot be understated. Changing settlement patterns, domestication of plants and animals, widespread environmental change, wars and invasions, mass migrations, population declines and in turn explosions, technological breakthroughs and changing family gender and domestic roles have all been driven by and responded to our insatiable hunger.
The tangible nature of food also lends itself to archaeological study, with so much of what we find on sites being evidence of food and foodways in the past. From the study of artefacts such as lithics and ceramics, to mapping settlement and migration patterns, to the detailed analysis of dental calculus and the contents of cesspits- humans have left behind a rich material record of meals past. This session is an opportunity to focus explicitly on the archaeology of food, highlighting the diversity of perspectives across a range of subdisciplines, locations and time periods.
Papers:
Meat for the Elite – Feasting Practices in Viking Age Scandinavia
Professor Anna Wessman, University of Bergen, Norway
During the Viking Age (ca. 750-1050 CE), changes in how food was prepared and eaten became a way to show social status and identity. New cooking techniques, including roasting and frying, were especially prominent among the elite, signalling wealth and access to resources. The use of roasting spits, frying pans, and tableware highlights a growing emphasis on visibility and presentation during banquets and feasts, where the meat, often fresh and expensive, was prepared in a way that drew attention to both the food and the cooking process. Unlike regular cooking, which involved cauldrons or outdoor cooking pits, roasting made the food more sensory, with its sounds, smells, and visual appeal becoming central to the commensal experience. These cooking methods took place indoors and were reserved for those who could afford them and who were entitled to be present. For example, frying bread was probably reserved for only specific ceremonial or ritual contexts. Overall, food practices during this period served as a tool for displaying wealth, reinforcing group identity, and marking political and social hierarchies.
Pacific Rim Pork
Gordon Grimwade, Adjunct Senior Lecturer (Archaeology), Flinders University, Adelaide
Pork is popular among many cultures and yet vehemently avoided by others. For Chinese it is arguably not only the most favoured meat dish, but also has strong ritual connections. When Chinese migrants headed to the west coast of America and the goldfields of Australia and New Zealand in the nineteenth century they took with them many culinary skills and not least the art of roasting pigs in large stone ovens. This paper discusses the distribution and structural forms of known ovens based on archaeological investigation, with particular reference to Australia and New Zealand. It describes the construction of a replica oven, and the cooking process (theoretical and practical). The presentation explores possible reasons for the popularity and cultural importance of pig ovens, particularly during major religious and social gatherings. The connection with both temples and mine sites in Australia and the existence of smaller variants has puzzled archaeologists for some years. Are we closer to finally resolving those issues?
Culinary Archaeology: The Next Frontier?
Kimberley Connor, Stanford University, USA
In history, a distinction is drawn between food history and culinary history, which is grounded in knowledge of recipes and cooking techniques. But what would a culinary archaeology look like? This paper uses the case study of the Female Immigration Depot (1848-1887) in Sydney, Australia, to think through how archaeologists can recentre the kitchen and the table in studies of food. The site, at Sydney’s Hyde Park Barracks, features desiccated underfloor occupation deposits beneath the floors throughout the building with remarkable preservation of organic artefacts, which provides a unique opportunity for multi-material analysis of animal bone and macrobotanical remains, in addition to glass, ceramics, and metal. Through a rich combination of archival and archaeological evidence, I envisage a holistic—though more circumscribed—archaeological study of food informed by food history, experimental archaeology, ethnoarchaeology and the embodied knowledge of cooking.
Navigating Vietnam’s Aquatic Past: Examining the Role of Aquatic Vertebrates in Subsistence and Cultural Practices
Fredeliza Campos, School of Humanities, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, The University of Sydney, Australia
The Neolithic transformation in Vietnam is well-documented for its integration of farming and animal domestication, yet the role of aquatic resources during this period remains critically underexplored in the interpretation of subsistence practices and human ecological adaptation. This project delves into the zooarchaeological study of fish remains and other aquatic species from Cái Bèo, a key archaeological site on Cát Bà island dating to approximately 5000 – 3000 BCE. Integrating comparative studies with modern faunal collections, the study highlights the contribution of aquatic vertebrates to understanding resource utilisation, foodways and cultural practices, and human-ecological dynamics in prehistory. The project underscores the methodological challenges of taxonomic identification in the region where there is a scarcity of accessible comparative collections, emphasises the importance of interdisciplinary approaches, and seeks to establish a foundational framework for expanding zooarchaeological inquiry into aquatic resource exploitation across Southeast Asia.
Aboriginal Traditions of Food—Investigating Holocene Dietary Changes in Southern Australia
Tim Owen, GML Heritage; Flinders University, Australia
Australian Aboriginal food systems are deeply rooted in traditions of procurement, processing, consumption, and disposal, reflecting a dynamic interaction with the environment. Food systems were not static; instead, they respond to shifts in environmental conditions, such as those driven by global climatic changes during the Pleistocene and Holocene. These changes impacted rainfall, temperature, and soil landscapes, ultimately altering ecological communities and food availability. Concurrently, Aboriginal society adapted to major environmental transformations, with increasing population densities, complex territorial boundaries, and evolving systems of trade, belief, and habitation becoming evident through archaeological records.
This paper examines how the diets of Aboriginal groups in SE South Australia evolved over the middle to late Holocene, incorporating long term climatic variation while remaining intrinsically linked to broader political, cultural, and economic patterns. I explore frameworks of intensification, highlighting specialisation, diversification, and innovation in food practices during the late Holocene.
By analysing anthropological, archaeological, and oral knowledge, this research provides insight into the hunter-gatherer versus farmer debate, offering new perspectives on the relationship between food systems and societal complexity.
Indigenous Ecological Knowledge and Monsoon Rainforest Connections: 47,000 Years of Aboriginal Plant Use in the Kimberley, Northwest Australia
India Ella Dilkes-Hall, Griffith University, Australia
Archaeobotanical research from nine archaeological sites across the Kimberley region of Western Australia provides valuable insights into people-plant relationships. Through the analysis of carpological remains (bush tukka [food plants] as from seeds, fruits, nuts etc.) this research sheds light on diet, subsistence, and the broader cultural significance of plant-based resources. Patterns of plant use highlight the complex relationships between people and plants and contribute to a deeper understanding of how Indigenous ecological knowledge shaped palaeoethnobotanical practices and landscape management strategies. This research offers insights on plant distribution, availability, and human agency showing how these factors are interwoven. Incorporating Indigenous ecological knowledge and perspectives, this research not only fills gaps in our understanding of plant use in the past but underscores the significance of Indigenous knowledge systems in project design and practice to form inclusive and insightful interpretations and narratives. Findings show Indigenous ecological knowledge of monsoon rainforest ecosystems, with partiality towards Indo-Malaysian botanical elements, formed the basis of early human-environment interaction in the Kimberley region with transmission of ecological knowledge onto new landscapes facilitating expedient identification of nutritious monsoon rainforest plants easing the process of having to adapt to otherwise totally unknown Sahul environments.
Food, Identity, and Distinction in Migrant Communities: A Multi-Method, Comparative Zooarchaeological Exploration of Chinese and European Meat Consumption and Food Choice in Ravenswood, an Historical Queensland Gold Mining Town
Marc Cheeseman, The University of Queensland, Australia
Australian historical archaeology has rarely considered the social context of food remains, most zooarchaeological studies frame their interpretations around economics, availability and/or provisioning arrangements. Faunal analyses are also complicated by the often highly fragmented nature of skeletal material at many Australian archaeological sites.
This presentation outlines some recent work integrating ‘traditional’ morphological faunal identification with ZooMS analysis (Zooarchaeology by Mass Spectrometry) of taxonomically unidentifiable ‘medium mammal’ specimens to discuss food choice and identity in Chinese and European contexts at Ravenswood, a late 19th/early 20th century gold mining settlement in northern Queensland, Australia. The ZooMS results support interpretations based on morphological identification; that ‘localisation’ (i.e. flexibility in adapting food practices to local conditions) is present in both European and Chinese migrant contexts and is an important aspect of how these migrants (re)created and maintained cultural and social ties in this remote mining town. Results also show the dynamic and contingent ways that food choice can reflect facets of identity while showing clear local influences informed—but not determined—by ethnicity and cultural background.
Proteomics: A New Avenue for the Archaeology of Food
Shevan Wilkin, University of Basel, Switzerland; Griffith University, Australia
Biomolecular science, including analyses such as stable isotopes, lipids, and DNA, have become indispensable tools for understanding the economic roles of domesticated plants and animals in archaeological contexts. Materials such as human remains, dental calculus, ceramic matrices, and archaeological residues offer critical insights into the use of animals for both primary and secondary products, as well as which specific tissues were consumed or utilised. While lipid and DNA analyses have long been established, the emerging field of protein analysis has opened new avenues for understanding past human-animal interactions. The species- and tissue-specific information provided by amino acid sequences has been pivotal in clarifying which animals and their products were consumed by ancient populations. Protein recovery and analysis from archaeological materials have proven especially valuable in contexts where faunal and floral remains are scarce or poorly preserved, making traditional zooarchaeological and botanical identifications difficult. Recent applications of this technique have shed light on the reliance on domesticated animals across Eurasia and Africa, and there is great potential to expand these insights to other regions, including Australia. This talk will highlight recent findings using biomolecular techniques and explore the potential for future research in new geographical areas.
Survival Herbs: How the Poor in Ancient Egypt Used Medicinal and Food Plants to Face Crises and Famine
Tamer Esmail, Ministry of Education, Egypt
This paper examines the relationship between poverty, climate change, and agricultural fluctuations in Ancient Egypt, focusing on their impact on the poor. It highlights how the poor used plants for survival, either as food or for medicinal purposes, especially during times of famine or crisis. The paper also discusses how social inequality from land ownership affected the poor and how climate challenges worsened their suffering. Ancient Egypt faced numerous environmental and climatic challenges, with agriculture and the Nile being central to the economy. The Nile’s floods provided water for crops, but fluctuations in the flood levels led to crop shortages and price hikes, deepening the struggles of the poor. To cope, the poor relied on plants as essential food and medical resources. Wild and cultivated plants, such as cumin, fenugreek, and papyrus, were used for food and medicine. Cumin treated digestive disorders, fenugreek improved health, and papyrus was used to make tools, providing economic alternatives during crises. The poor also used medicinal plants, such as cinnamon and thyme as antibacterial agents and colocynth for pain relief. These plants reduced dependence on expensive treatments, improving health during difficult times.